Hsshh—
The horses, spooked, neighed and fidgeted nervously, but the terrified caravan mbers held them tightly.
In that mont—
Tension gripped the entire caravan.
A tall Root mber drew his katana and pressed it coldly against Sōsen's neck. His voice was low and nacing:
"Whether there are rogue ninja in this group isn't sothing you can explain away with a few words. You have three minutes. Get everyone over there."
He pointed to a clearing ahead on the right.
That was the area most heavily covered with Root's throwing-weapon traps.
After speaking, the Root mber withdrew his blade, grabbed Sōsen off the ground, and tossed him toward the back of the convoy.
Sōsen stumbled forward, cursing his luck. First the rogue ninja forced him around, and now even the Konoha ANBU were pushing him.
People without power were like beasts of burden in the ninja world—born to be ordered around.
As he passed the second wagon, Sōsen glanced at Uchiha Yu. He had wanted to vent so frustration, but when he rembered this man was an S-rank missing-nin, his anger vanished. He forced a submissive tone and called out:
"Off the wagons, off the wagons! Everyone gather up! Just do as the ninja-sama said!"
Yu jumped off the wagon, and Sōsen was montarily stunned—he hadn't expected him to be so cooperative.
Then the other Uchiha, along with Nonō and Kurenai, also disembarked.
They were quietly pleased with Sōsen—he knew their captain's identity but hadn't tried to sell them out.
Reluctantly, the other caravan mbers climbed down from their wagons.
At that mont, three guards from the caravan fixed their eyes on Yu and his group.
Nervous sweat beaded their palms as anxiety filled their expressions. They were clearly struggling with a difficult decision.
They were considering reporting the dozen or so suspicious people traveling with the caravan—certain that they must be the rogue ninja these "ANBU" were after.
Not everyone could think things through like Sōsen.
These three were convinced: this shady group definitely wasn't a match for Konoha ANBU.
Swish—
One of the three guards suddenly raised his right hand high. Sōsen's eyes widened in alarm. A mont later, he sprang up in pain, slamming the man's arm down.
He looked pale with fear and cursed in his heart: 'Damn it—these idiots are going to get killed!'
"Sōsen?" the guard looked at him, bewildered, as Sōsen clutched his right hand.
Sōsen hissed under his breath, "You want to get us all killed?"
The three guards looked confused. In their minds, reporting those suspicious figures to the ANBU was the best way to save the caravan.
At the rear of the caravan, the commotion didn't escape the notice of the Uchiha. They instinctively turned back, curious to see how Yu would handle the situation.
Only to be stunned when they realized—
Their Captain Yu… had vanished!!
The three guards shrank under Sōsen's glare, guilt silencing them.
Up ahead, one of the Root ninja who had started to walk away suddenly turned back, glancing toward the source of the noise in the middle of the convoy.
He said coldly, "What's going on?"
Sōsen forced a smile and laughed nervously:
"Nothing, nothing, ninja-sama! I'm organizing everyone to move to the area you pointed out!"
Just as before, the caravan guard who had been glared at by Sōsen noticed the Konoha ANBU's attention shift in their direction. His heart sank—but he still raised his right hand again and shouted loudly:
"Sir, I want to repo—"
His voice didn't finish.
Spurt—
A pitch-black blade pierced straight through the guard's back, running him through the heart. His chest collapsed inward, and his life ended instantly.
"Huh?"
The other two guards turned around in a daze, only to see—
That black-hooded young man had sohow appeared behind their fallen comrade without anyone noticing.
A mont later, two flashes of black light swept past.
The two guards' eyes widened in terror as they clutched their necks, collapsed to the ground, and died with confused expressions.
They never saw what happened—only that their hearts, set on betrayal, were silenced forever.
"..."
Warm blood splattered across Sōsen's face, shocking him out of his stupor.
In the blink of an eye, the three guards had been cut down by the black blade.
Yu pulled down his hood, revealing his true face, and walked past the stunned Sōsen, heading straight toward the Root mbers at the front of the caravan.
Sōsen whipped his head around, eyes wide. To his shock, everyone who had been standing near the second wagon had vanished.
Yu's strike on the would-be traitors had clearly been the signal to start the fight.
At the road's entrance—
The two Root mbers were montarily stunned by the sudden deaths.
But as soon as they saw Yu—
Their eyes lit up with recognition, then delight.
anwhile, the Root mbers hidden on the cliffs above were also shocked, then overjoyed—only for their expressions to turn grim.
Their commanders, Yamanaka Fu and Abura Torune, had made the right call choosing this spot for an ambush and targeting the caravan.
Yamanaka Fu and Abura Torune exchanged a glance. Rising from the cliff edge, the forr gave a hand signal.
One Root mber cut a steel wire beside him—a trigger for the traps.
Boom—
With a faint sound, intricate trap chanisms inside the cliff walls quietly activated. The sealing chanisms began to disengage.
A heartbeat later—
Whoosh—
The sharp howl of cutting wind echoed as the cliff walls glead with cold light. A barrage of black kunai and shuriken exploded forth like a thunderstorm, all aid at Yu from every direction.
The area was covered in an extrely dense array of trap-based projectile weapons, leaving no escape.
Yu activated his Mangekyō, predicting the complex trajectories of the incoming weapons. With his black blade, Dark Moon, in hand, he leapt forward, leaving his original spot behind.
Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!
A barrage of ninja tools struck the spot where Yu had just stood. But the next wave of projectiles instantly adjusted their trajectories, tracking his movents.
After several evasive maneuvers, Yu found himself backed against a cliff wall, able only to deflect the attacks coming from behind—there was no room left to retreat.
"As long as you're not fighting humans, what use is your ocular genjutsu?"
Yamanaka Fu watched the situation in the valley with cold detachnt.
Beside him, Abura Torune, his expression hidden beneath a half-covered mask, spread his arms slightly as if controlling sothing. Inwardly, he thought:
'Even if he can dodge the physical tools... what about the nano-scale poison bugs drifting in the air?'
The Abura clan's Phosphor Bugs dwell throughout their hosts' bodies—re contact can cause instant death through poisoning.
Combined with his Secret Art: Poison Dust Technique, Torune could expel these insects from his mouth, manipulate them, and send them toward Yu using the wind currents stirred by the trap-triggered gusts.
Standing atop the high cliffs opposite Yu, the two Root commanders saw him trapped like a cornered beast. Victory, they believed, was all but certain.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—
A fresh wave of kunai, shuriken, senbon—and countless poisonous nano-bugs—ca flying toward Yu in a deadly storm.
Pressed to the cliff wall, Yu's lips curled slightly.
In his right hand, the black blade Dark Moon began to distort, now shrouded in vibrating dark mist flowing with intense frequency.
His Mangekyō Sharingan—Yasakani no Magatama—spun in his eyes.
From a distance, the Tsuchigumo clan mbers and caravan guards, untouched by the trap barrage, suddenly felt their chakra drained away by Yu's ocular power.
Just as the hailstorm of ninja tools was about to overwhelm him, Yu slashed forward with his blade.
Whoooosh—
A roaring gale erupted. A wind wall—like a waterfall flipped skyward—materialized before him, surging endlessly.
The barrier of wind stopped the incoming kunai, senbon, shuriken, and even the drifting poison bugs midair.
Clang! Clatter! Clink!
All the weapons rained to the ground, blocked completely.
"That's Wind Release??"
Yamanaka Fu stared in shock. Beside him, Torune's pupils widened as he exclaid:
"My poison bugs… they can't get through that wind wall!"
Down in the valley—
Yu looked up, eting the eyes of the two n atop the cliff. The chakra he had just extracted from 47 caravan mbers converted instantly into Wind Release chakra, which he infused into Dark Moon.
Then—he slashed a second ti.
Boom—
A crescent-shaped arc of pitch-black wind surged forth like a dark moon, or a severing ring of stars, cleaving across the cliff and engulfing the waists of both Yamanaka Fu and Abura Torune.
It was a slash as if it could sever the very world itself—sharp beyond imagination.
The two Root leaders looked down in horror.
At the very end of their lives—
They saw their upper and lower halves slowly slip apart, cleanly severed.
It was only then that Yamanaka Fu understood—
That strange sword strike which split the skies earlier… was Uchiha Yu's doing.
It had foreshadowed their deaths tonight.
And to kill them—
He hadn't even needed to use the full power of his Mangekyō Sharingan.
°°°
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